Have you got too much to do?

Discover how to get more done, more successfully, by not trying to do it all yourself.

Get your life back! As an owner or manager, you have to optimise your time management in order to get things done. Even if you do have a highly developed view of how to engage your customers, feed your sales pipeline, build your presence across social and make ecommerce pay for you, how on earth can you achieve all this with a DIY mindset?

Here are five helpful tactics to make better use of your time:

1. Outsource your digital marketing and social media for business

If you don’t have the expertise, you shouldn’t try to do this yourself. According to a 2017 Deloitte Access Economics survey, only 46% of Australian small businesses commission social media for business purposes. The top reasons for the remaining 54% are: ‘a lack of time’, ‘limited in-house expertise’, and ‘we can’t afford to do it’. These can be solved by using an external marketing agency to create content, manage campaigns, and deliver great R.O.I.

2. Understand that multitasking is not all it’s cracked up to be

Doing too much can really limit your returns. Research from Finland’s Aalto University found multi-tasking to the nth-degree is not the answer, and chopping and changing from one task to another can slow down progress and break the flow at work. Associate Professor Iiro Jääskeläinen reported that “Prolonged stress hinders thinking and memory.” This research is backed up by a 2017 University of Sydney study that showed people who were feeling time-poor suffered an impact on their thinking skills.

3. Plan ahead

Prioritise your tasks by keeping a daily or weekly Work in Progress planner. Batch up similar tasks together to accelerate the process. If you can see that your current accounting system is straining to keep up, start planning to take it online or into the cloud if you haven’t done so already. Also set aside some time every workday to reply to emails rather than frequently checking and responding on an unplanned basis. You can even list these hours in your email signature with a phone number to contact you for urgent requests.

4. Reduce how much time you spend on admin

Your time is valuable. It makes sense to spend less time on admin tasks so you can spend more time on achieving your business goals. Instead, make sales-generating activities a priority, and keep some time up your sleeve for relationship-nurturing and family. Consider hiring a freelance admin assistant or a savvy intern to attend to your business-related admin tasks, so you can focus on work that needs your personal attention.

5. Create templates and manuals and seek out an agency for graphic design

Make templates for commonly sent letters, invoices, emails, and process-documents to deliver a consistent message and streamline your business operations. Script up responses to frequently asked questions, and if you or a staffer run your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, check them at set times. Paid lead generation campaigns require more time and expertise to get good results, so use an external marketing agency for this. Do the same for your advertising, graphic design, and stationary design.

With these thoughts in mind, SME owners and managers really can make better use of time.